Challenges on Teaching English as A Foreign Language (EFL) in Santa Cruz, RN Public Schools

Abstract

This article presents results from the first phase of an action research regarding the impressions of teachers and students of the challenges they face in teaching/learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in 5 groups of Middle and High School students at 3 public schools in the city of Santa Cruz, RN. Considering the school drop-out rate in Brazil is greatest at the High School level, and among all the regions in Brazil, the highest rate being in the Northeast, the need for a context analysis is clear, so that we may suggest pedagogical actions in the 2nd phase of the action research. The precariousness of the rates led us to pose the following questions: 1) what are the impressions of the students and teachers about the biggest challenges they face in the public schools?; and 2) what are some pedagogical practices that we can suggest for overcoming these challenges? The instrument used to generate data was the application of questionnaires applied to 75 students from three groups and five teachers in the public schools in Santa Cruz, RN. The results of this data indicate that the impression of the teachers is that they lack “motivating strategies” in EFL and the student’s report that their greatest learning challenge is in reading and writing. Thus, we propose workshops in the program: Reading to Learn – accelerated learning and closing the gap, that aims at fomenting the success of all of the learners in the classroom, positively contributing to their motivation. These strategies aim to provide support for the success of all students in the classroom, which in turn contributes to learner motivation.